Buildings use twice as much energy as they should, research reveals

Numerous buildings are using twice the amount of energy they normally should and that’s mostly down to cultural problems in the construction and design industry, research from the University of Bath has been able to suggest.

David Coley, Professor of Low Carbon Design, who led the investigation into why there was such a disparity between the quoted energy savings of certain buildings compared with real-world performance, revealed that some building designers put the blame on occupants for using buildings incorrectly or on builders for taking shortcuts and using the wrong materials.

He commented: “The delivery of buildings that are not as energy efficient as they should be is costing millions of pounds in inflated energy bills and wasting huge amounts of electricity and heat.”

The research also concluded that more regulation from industry bodies is needed, particularly to outline which technologies are the most effective and to encourage transparent reporting and feedback after the building is being used.

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